celebrating our history, stitch by stitch
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has been intertwined in the fate and fabric of the East Bay community for more than a century. So it’s fitting, somehow, that a group of its dedicated employees opted to celebrate the medical center’s recent 100th anniversary by sewing a quilt.
This isn’t the first time that hospital employees have tailored anniversary activities to such a “hands-on” endeavor, according to Carolyn Kemp, Alta Bates Summit’s director of public relations. When Alta Bates celebrated its 75th anniversary, a similar project was undertaken. “Then, as now, we invited employees and departments to participate in making a quilt,” says Carolyn. “We had a wonderful response.” For the centennial project, a kickoff party was held in 2005 through the generosity of Suzan Steinberg, owner of Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley. “Linda Grant, our centennial coordinator, kept us on track, orchestrating the whole event and project,” says Carolyn.
Once things got under way, representatives from all three campuses participated. Employees crafted 1-foot squares reflective of their individual departments — 42 in all. Finished squares were entrusted to Ann Gaebler, R.N., nurse manager in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and Wendy Snyder, co-founders of Quilt Mamas, a quilting and handicraft business. With great skill and care, Ann and Wendy stitched together the pieces into a 6-foot-by-7-foot masterpiece.
In the end, the whole effort was, well, seamless, says Carolyn. “Ultimately, it all came together to honor our employees and honor the history of our heritage hospitals. It was a very heartfelt project.”
Breast Cancer Navigators
A breast cancer diagnosis comes as a shock. Women are forced to make an abrupt transition from thinking they’re well one day to being told they’re sick the next, with new and difficult concepts to understand, tough decisions to make, and lots of stress to manage.
“A patient once told me that a breast cancer diagnosis is like being dropped from a plane into a foreign country without a map,” says Kathleen Colloton, R.N.C., W.H.N.P., C.B.P.N.-C., one of the “navigators” with Alta Bates Summit’s Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center. The program assists newly diagnosed patients and plays a critical role at a crucial time in patients’ lives. “Newly diagnosed women are often confused and worried,” says Kathleen, “so we contact them as soon as possible, to ease their anxieties, answer questions and clear up misperceptions.”
This contact is made by the program’s staff navigators, who speak English, Spanish, Cantonese and Korean and are proactive about reaching the diverse population of newly diagnosed women in the community. The navigators make suggestions to help patients communicate with doctors (“bring a tape recorder to your doctor appointments”), prepare for surgery (“exercise, eat well and reduce stress”) and get emotional backup (“we offer support groups and a peer advocacy program”). Kathleen and fellow navigators also act as compassionate coaches, explaining courses of treatment and available resources. But, above all, “we listen,” she says. “We encourage them to tell us how they are feeling, and we support and reassure them.”
For more information on the breast navigator program at the Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center, call Kathleen Colloton at (510) 869-6628.
